


food for thought

by lunarwaves



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, Married Couple, No Bending, semi crack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 03:34:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29711001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunarwaves/pseuds/lunarwaves
Summary: Zuko is by no means a bad cook- he knows this. But when Katara starts turning her nose up at everything he makes, Zuko knows he has to figure out why.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 17
Kudos: 96





	food for thought

**Author's Note:**

  * For [princess_zel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/princess_zel/gifts).



> please have some modern au and married zutara as a token of my love

Zuko learned to cook in his second year of college.

It was a necessary skill- he moved to an off-campus apartment away from the tiny, box-like dorms, and the idea of eating anymore cafeteria food made him want to drop out.

While he occasionally succumbed to weakness and ate the food provided by his university, he at least learned how to throw vegetables together, to make soups and pastas alongside the occasional dessert.

Zuko also started dating Katara in his second year of college. They had agreed to lie and give outlandish stories if someone they didn’t know well asked how they met- so far the best they had come up with was, “she saved me from a shark attack,” and, “he thought my textbook was his.” But both they and their close friends knew the real story- about swiping right on Tinder and Zuko making breakfast the next morning.

So it’s not like Zuko is bad at cooking. They often alternated who put the food on the table, but making breakfast for Katara was enough for her to let him slide a ring on her finger once they both graduated, Katara pursuing her master’s degree and Zuko going into a consulting job.

He knows he’s pretty good at this one life skill at least, and literally no one can screw up bacon and eggs. Which is what makes breakfast this morning, after three years of marriage, all the more strange.

“Did you do something different?” Katara asks, frowning and poking the food with her fork.

“Nope. Same as all the other times I’ve made this.” Zuko dries his hands on a towel, and comes over to eat with her.

“It just… nevermind.” Katara sniffs suspiciously and eyes a piece of scrambled egg.

Now it’s Zuko’s turn to frown, both in confusion and mild annoyance. “If there’s something wrong with my cooking you can tell me. I won’t get offended.”

Five things happen in quick succession after he says that. One: Katara lifts the egg to her lips. Two: her expression goes tight. Three: she pushes her chair out, sending it skidding over tile as she- Four: -claps a hand to her mouth. Five: Katara makes a mad dash for the bathroom and Zuko follows, trying to hold his breath and not black out as he watches her retch into a toilet, smoothing hands over her hair to keep it out of her face.

“It’s okay sweetheart, I got you,” he says, even as he wonders what the hell went wrong with his cooking today.

Katara ends up skipping breakfast because she’s, “not hungry,” even though she always gets on Zuko’s ass the times he forgets to eat, “the most important meal of the day.” But she’s clearly going through something so Zuko chooses not to comment on it, eating Katara’s serving of breakfast alongside his own.

He isn’t sure what he’s expecting, but the bacon and eggs taste fine, good even, despite the fact they’ve gone cold.

\--

Katara was going to make lemon-grilled salmon for dinner. She had even prepared the marinade last night and bought fillets from the grocery store.

Katara is no longer making lemon-grilled salmon for dinner.

“Looking at this makes me want to throw up,” she says, gesturing to the fish and marinade, and Zuko doesn’t doubt her, not after the events of this morning.

“We don’t need to have salmon,” he replies. “What do you want to eat then?”

And that’s how Zuko finds himself at a Wendy’s, ignoring his own burger and fries in favor of watching Katara go to town on a Dave’s Double, reminiscent of their getting-drunk-at-college-parties days.

“Sweetheart, I don’t mean to sound rude,” he says, pushing his fries towards Katara as she hungrily eyes them. “But you don’t usually want to eat fast food. Is everything alright?”

“I think so?” she responds. “I don’t know, I was just craving it. This is probably just a one-time thing.”

\--

The Wendy’s specifically is a one time thing. But Wendy’s turns into McDonald’s, and McDonald’s turns into eating a whole apple pie for a meal, and eating a whole apple pie for a meal turns into ice cream for lunch, and ice cream for lunch turns into a bowl of plain rice.

Zuko had tried cooking for Katara a few more times but she’d always politely rebuff him, trying her best to hide nausea and disgust.

It was sweet she was trying to spare his feelings. But Zuko couldn’t help but feel hurt- she’d never had a problem with his cooking before. What the hell was going on now? Did he suddenly suck at it? 

Which is why he asked Sokka and Suki to come over during lunch the one day he’s working from home, double and triple checking to make sure Katara would still be in class and therefore unable to bear witness to what he was going to do.

“Is everything okay?” Suki asks the second he opens the door.

“I’m fine, I just… need you guys to try something?” Zuko guides them to the dining table, where he’s placed two plates of homemade curry and rice. He hands them both spoons. “Please try this and tell me if it’s good.”

“Are you sure you’re fine?” Sokka asks. “First you call us over in the middle of a work day, and now you’re forcing us to eat. Not that I don’t want to, but I feel like there’s something you’re not telling us.”

“I’m fine,” Zuko repeats. “Can you just eat the curry and tell me how it is?”

“You’re not poisoning us, are you?” Sokka raises his brow, dodging the hand Suki attempts to swat him with.

“What? No!” Zuko sighs, slumping against the wall. Sokka and Suki still haven’t eaten, staring at him with twin looks of worry on their faces. “I’m just worried about Katara.”

They wait in an uncomfortable silence for him to elaborate but when he doesn’t, Suki clears her throat. “Uh. Could you explain what this has to do with curry?”

There’s only two dining chairs at the table so Zuko simply slouches to the floor, arms crossed over his knees. “Katara doesn’t seem to like my cooking anymore. She only ever eats fast food or weird things. Like at dinner once she just ate apple pie. Not a slice- a whole one!” He spreads his hands in desperation. “I don’t even understand where she put it! And I’m obviously still eating my own cooking, but it tastes fine. I just don’t get why she suddenly started hating my food.”

“Well you’re right,” Sokka says, finally taking a bite of his curry. “Your food definitely tastes fine. Can I take some of this home?”

“You eat everything,” Zuko says. “I can’t trust you on taste.” He ignores Sokka’s indignant squawk and turns to Suki. “Well? What do you think?”

He expects an answer similar to Sokka’s, or maybe a, “this is absolute garbage,” but she just looks thoughtful.

“Zuko,” Suki finally says. “Have you considered that Katara might be pregnant?”

_What._

“There’s no way,” Sokka says, spoon halfway to his mouth at the same time Zuko says, “what?”

“When I was pregnant with Kallik and didn’t know, I absolutely couldn’t stand chicken. I got nauseous and had plenty of weird cravings. I think it’s definitely a possibility.”

“Well…” Zuko says, thinking about Katara’s actions the past few days. “We have been trying for a kid. I just didn’t know it would be so soon.”

He’s startled out of his reverie with a dirty spoon hitting him between the eyes.

“I do not want to think about you and my sister trying to make a baby,” Sokka snarls, before turning back to Suki. “Honey, can I borrow your spoon? I seem to have dropped mine.”

\--

He sends Sokka and Suki home with most of the curry. Zuko keeps some to reheat for dinner though, and runs to the pharmacy to buy a pregnancy test.

He’s sure he looks at least a bit crazy, clad in sweatpants and a ratty t-shirt as he mulls over a box in each hand. There are so many brands boasting, “accuracy,” and, “rapid detection,” but Zuko ultimately just closes his eyes and picks before walking to the checkout counter.

Surprisingly, the cashier doesn’t give him a weird look. She just asks if he had a nice day before scanning the pregnancy test and stuffing it into a plastic bag.

And so the waiting begins. Zuko sits at his desk in an effort to get work done but is unable to stop himself from thinking about the innocuous pink box currently sitting right next to his monitor.

When he hears the front door open, the familiar call of, “I’m home!”, Zuko takes a deep breath and picks up the pregnancy test, hiding it behind his back as he heads downstairs.

“Hi sweetheart,” he says, kissing Katara soundly on the lips. “How was school?”

“Fine,” she sighs, slipping off her shoes before heading inside. “Same as usual. I’ll be home late tomorrow because that professor I told you about wants me to start the lab. Which is exciting but also kind of scary because I’ve never really researched something like this before.”

“Uh, the thing about CRISPR technology right?” Zuko asks, recalling a conversation he had with her a week ago. “Yeah, you mentioned it.”

Katara beams at him. “You remembered!”

Zuko’s heart flutters, and for a moment he forgets what he was trying to accomplish. “Of course. I always do.” But he sees her eyes flicker to his hidden hands, and he quickly produces the pregnancy test.

“Can you take this?” he blurts out at the look of confusion on Katara’s face, because tact has never been his strong suit.

“What,” she says, looking at the box as though it’s grown a head.

Zuko backtracks. “I can explain. It’s not as weird as you’re probably thinking.” He takes a deep breath, getting his thoughts in order. “You know how you couldn’t eat my cooking? And started craving weird things?”

“I wasn’t craving weird things,” she says in defense.

“Apple pie, Katara. Remember the apple pie? Because I do. Anyway, I called Sokka and Suki over without telling you-”

“Why would you invite my own brother over without telling me?” Katara interrupts. “That’s so weird!”

“-so they could taste my food,” Zuko continues. “I thought I was going crazy, and that I had forgotten how to cook or something. But then we talked, and Suki brought up the fact that you might be pregnant. Because she experienced some of the same things with Kallik. So… I went to the pharmacy and got this.” He thrusts the box towards her. “I can’t believe you have to pee on a stick though. I thought that was a joke.”

His wife looks thoughtful, chewing her lip. “So soon after we started trying though? That seems a little fast, doesn’t it?” After a moment, she finally takes the pregnancy test, tucking it under an arm as she covers one of Zuko’s hands with both of hers. “I think this is definitely a theory worth exploring but I’ve heard these aren’t the most accurate. So we’re definitely going to a doctor no matter what it says, and I will love you no matter what we learn.”

“I love you too,” Zuko says automatically, taking the backpack she hands him and setting it aside as she goes to the bathroom.

He stands outside nervously, hearing the tell-tale click of the lock. The few minutes he waits feel like an eternity, but eventually Katara unlocks the door. Zuko steps back, trying to read the expression on her face as she pokes both her head and the stick out. For a moment, he forgets it’s literally covered in piss and leans closer to get a better look at it.

“Look,” Katara says. “It’s positive.”

**Author's Note:**

> based off that one reddit post where the guy's partner starts hating his cooking and some of the replies were like 'is she pregnant maybe???' i lost the link (if anyone finds it please let me know haha) but the idea kind of refused to leave me alone until i wrote this.
> 
> [tumblr](https://avatar-the-last-jerkbender.tumblr.com/)


End file.
